How to Make a Surfer Automata : 11 Steps

The purpose of this idea is to show a girl bouncing up and down on a surfboard as a wave is crashing down. Also to show that the wave has washed her into the shore.

Step 1: Choosing a Box

Choose a medium size box. We chose this box because it allows you to see how all the different parts move.

Step 2: Shaping the Surfboard

Get some cardboard and cut out a surfboard shape. Stronger cardboard will be better, but it doesn't really matter because you will paper mache it so it will be strong anyway.

Step 3: Papier Mache Surfboard

We didn't really use the normal papier mache technique. All we did was rip up some white paper and coat it in normal gluestick glue.

Step 4: Painting the Surfboard

After your Papier Mache is dry, paint it any colour you want. You could also draw a sign of a surfboard brand if you wanted to.

Step 5: Papier Mache the Surfer

Now that you have finished shaping the surfer you now papier mache all of the surfer. We used just PVA glue and some ripped up white paper. It dries really fast.

Step 6: Painting and Designing the Surfer

Once the papier mache has dried, you can design your surfer however you want. You can even use some wetsuit material. Then hot glue the surfer onto the surfboard.

Step 7: Step 7: Panting and Designing the Scene

Now you need to design the scene, first get two pieces of paper one yellow and one blue. Cut them in half making the yellow one a bit bigger, now stick them on top of the cardboard box using a glue stick. You can now add some sand to make it have a better effect. To stick the sand on we used some PVA glue.

Step 8: Step 8: Adding the Mechanical Parts

For the mechanical parts we used a cam. We used some dowel for the bar and we used some foam for the cam. We superglued the cam to the dowel. Then we put bottle caps on the end of the dowel to secure it.

Step 9: Step 9: Making It Work

Then you just turn the handle and the dowel will make the cam spin around, bumping the cardboard on top and pushing the strip of cardboard upwards to make the surfer go up and down! For extra texture mix some sand with some yellow paint to make a sand texture.